Title & Author:

The Integration of the Arts / [presented by] Theo Crosby (Pentagram).

Publication:

London, England : Pidgeon Digital, 1979.

Description:

1 online resource (1 video file (26 minutes)) : sound, color

Notes:
Theo Crosby -- Dissatisfaction With The Environment. West London -- Reims Cathedral -- The Orders Of Architecture According To Vignola -- Alberti's Malatestiano, Rimini -- Ornament At Malatestiano -- Foreign Office, Whitehall, London, By Sir George Gilbert Scott, 1875 -- The Foreign Office -- The Foreign Office, Sculpture -- The Foreign Office. One Element Of The Main Mass -- The Foreign Office Reliefs Fill The Spaces -- The Foreign Office Door -- The Foreign Office Ornament Round Door & Window -- The Foreign Office Cast Iron Railings -- The Foreign Office Main Gates -- Sainsbury Art Centre, University Of East Anglia, By Foster Associates -- Sainsbury Art Centre. Interior. External Cladding -- Berto Lardera Sculpture, French Pavilion, Expo 67, Montreal -- Richard Lippold Sculpture In Lincoln Center, New York -- Rockefeller Center Ariel Sculpture -- Ariel Sculpture -- Constantin Nivola Cast Concrete Sculpture, Saarinen Yale Dormitory -- Art Nouveau Signs On Black Friar Pub, Blackfriars, London -- Edward Wright's Wall Decorations For UIA Congress Buildings, 1961, London.

Summary:

The late Theo Crosby - architect, sculptor, designer, author, editor - was a partner in the London multi-design firm Pentagram. He fought throughout his working life for the integration of the arts, the subject of this talk. He says: "Early modern buildings often contained a great deal of art. New modern buildings invariably have none". Seeking the reason, he finds "roots in the nineteenth century and implications that illuminate many contemporary attitudes". For example, the Foreign Office in London which he has recently been examining is "an exercise by a superb professional" (Gilbert Scott). "The sculptures play two roles in the building... as physical ornaments... but they also carry a load of meanings and ideas which make the reading of the building more interesting". This sort of approach was discarded by the Modern Movement in the 20th century. The idea of integration was replaced by the idea of confrontation, the work of art now standing in isolation from the building. But, pleads Crosby, art is cheap at the moment and "an architect can very easily gather around him a team of artists, a great variety of capabilities which he can use of make a truly unique work".

Subject:

Architecture Aesthetics.
Architecture, Modern 20th century.
Architecture Esthétique.
Architecture 20e siècle.
Architecture, Modern.

Added entries:

Crosby, Theo, narrator.